Demorest’s planned grant-payment schedule leaves TAP project follow-through unresolved

Demorest City Council’s July 2025 work-session minutes laid out installment schedules for grant-award fees connected to two Transportation Alternatives Program projects—one involving Georgia and Massachusetts Streets and another centered on City Hall and nearby areas. The discussion described four $7,500 installments for each $30,000 award fee, but the minutes do not document a council vote approving the arrangement or confirm that any payment was made.

The terms matter because they address the city’s financial obligations for grant work affecting public spaces in downtown Demorest and around City Hall. A $60,000 total in listed award fees, split between the two projects, would shape when the city expected to pay for grant-related services and whether the projects could move ahead under the described arrangements.

At the July work session, council received a letter about payment and reimbursement terms for several grants, including Georgia TAP grants. Staff said Brad Day’s company contract made the grant-award fee due when an award was accepted, and the minutes then listed payments running from July through September 2025 for each of the two awards. That presentation established a proposed payment path, but it did not itself establish a council decision or completed transaction.

City staff presented the contract interpretation: that the award fee became due upon grant award and acceptance. The minutes identify Brad Day’s company in connection with that contract and identify the city as the party considering the payment and reimbursement terms. The record does not preserve a separate councilmember position, public comment, or a dispute over the schedules, so it is not possible to say from the minutes whether the terms had unanimous support or drew objections.

The installment dates and amounts were listed in the July minutes, but the official account records discussion rather than a completed authorization. An Aug. 5, 2025 council agenda included a “GRANT UPDATE” item for consideration; an agenda alone does not show what council decided, whether installments were paid, or whether either TAP project advanced. No later conclusive record here establishes implementation, amendment, completion, or a different payment outcome.

The next public confirmation would be a later council-minutes entry, payment record, or grant file showing whether Demorest made the listed installments and how the Georgia-and-Massachusetts Streets and City Hall-area work proceeded. Until such a record appears, the central questions remain unresolved: whether council formally acted on the terms, whether the fees were paid, and what work, if any, followed.